Jimmy Fallon

Comedian / Talk Show Host

Born: 19 September 1974

Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York

Best known as:

The host of The Tonight Show, 2014-present

Comedian Jimmy Fallon was a regular on TV's Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2004, and now he's the host of the NBC's legendary talk show The Tonight Show. A native New Yorker, Jimmy Fallon got into the entertainment business just out of college, doing stand-up comedy and specializing in impersonations. He worked in New York and then Los Angeles, and in 1998 he returned to New York for a job with Saturday Night Live. Dark-haired and cocky but good-hearted, he didn't exactly become a comedy star on the show, but he appeared regularly in skits and acted as Tina Fey's sidekick on the Weekend Update segments. He left the show to pursue a movie career, and soon landed starring roles in Taxi (2004, co-starring Queen Latifah) and Fever Pitch (2005, opposite Drew Barrymore). A few years and a few lackluster projects later, Jimmy Fallon was named to replace Conan O'Brien as the host of the NBC show Late Night after O'Brien took over the network's flagship The Tonight Show from Jay Leno. Fallon began hosting Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in March of 2009 and drew praise for his light touch and a new sense of warmth. He remained in the job in 2010 when NBC dumped O'Brien and re-installed Leno at The Tonight Show. NBC announced in March of 2013 that Leno would again step down, in early 2014, this time to be replaced by Fallon himself. Jay Leno's last night was February 6, 2014, and after a brief hiatus for the Winter Olympics, a new edition of the Tonight Show based in New York City with Jimmy Fallon as host launched on February 17, 2014.

Extra credit:

Jimmy Fallon dropped out of The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York in his last year of school, but in 2009 -- 14 years later -- the school awarded him a degree in Communications based on his professional portfolio... Jimmy Fallon married Nancy Juvonen in 2009; she was a producer of his film Fever Pitch. Fallon was 33, Juvonen 40 when they married. Their daughter Winnie Rose was born via a surrogate mother in July 2013; another daughter, Frances Cole, was born (also by surrogate) on 3 December 2014.